Spring concert

Tonight was the third and final concert of the year for UCLA Symphony. (For some reason this quarter it was on Wednesday of 9th week instead of 10th, and now I feel like there are only two days of class left.)

The program included the following:

Wagner - Overture to The Flying Dutchman
Quintessential Wagner, doused in romanticism I might have appreciated more a few years ago. It's a bit over the top and thick for my tastes now. The string parts are filled with quick runs but it doesn't matter if you can play them or not because the brass dominates the sound, the strings are mostly for texture. I got a little shaky during the performance and didn't fake it as well as usual. Despite my gripes it's still very satisfying to perform as an overture. The andante sections are beautiful and it ends with a nice, fat D major chord.

Poulenc - Concert Champêtre
I am in love with this piece and I am in love with Poulenc. He's like Ravel or Debussy except less pretty and more deranged (Not to say he doesn't create some gorgeous moments too, though.) I'm not sure if you've listened to much Baroque harpsichord music, but it seriously drives me nuts. To get an idea, imagine a bunch of metal bees being passed through a blender over and over, while buzzing. That's Baroque harpsichord. But this piece makes me love harpsichord, that's how amazing it is - too bad you didn't come see us perform it, jerk. It's a harpsichord concerto, written over a hundred years after harpsichord was mostly abandoned in favor of the piano. Though the harpsichord is much less powerful than a piano, Poulenc chose to accompany it with a full Romantic orchestra. Scored lightly and colorfully, this piece shimmers - absolutely gorgeous orchestration. The same modal writing and extended chords you'd find in other French impressionist music. Rapid meter changes towards the end - reminds me of some modern band music. I definitely need to hear some more Poulenc - he's certainly deserving of much more attention than we give him!

Beethoven - Symphony no. 6, "Pastoral"
I'm not the biggest fan of Beethoven; playing his 7th symphony in November 2006 at NHS left me a bit pessimistic about performing his work. The Pastoral symphony is a bit nontraditional in that it is programmatic unlike most of Beethoven's work. It depicts a countryside and from what I have gathered, a bunch of frivolity. It also breaks from the standard form of a symphony, set in five movements with the last three played attacca. Unfortunately the second and longest movement puts me to sleep as swiftly as Pachelbel's Canon. I've never really understood Beethoven's string parts, with constant string crossings and awkward intervals, they are about as far from idiomatic as possible. On older bows this must have been even more difficult. The same arpeggiated figures appear in the woodwind parts, which I can imagine makes them very awkward as well.

Tonight I found that a more-experienced orchestra is bit more successful at reaching the audience with this kind of music, though - more attention was paid to the dynamic contrast and lightness that is vital to interpreting Beethoven, this symphony in particular. And there's something immensely rewarding about sounding the last F major chord of a 50-minute symphony, feeling like your back is going to give out any second. It's like finishing a great novel or something. But I'd still rather play Schubert.